Your Right to a Healthy Environment - UNECE

ForewordThe Aarhus Convention is widely recognized as the world’s foremost internationalinstrument promoting access to information, public participation in decisionmakingand access to justice in environmental matters.Following its adoption, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called theConvention a giant step forward in international law and an instrument of globalsignificance, albeit negotiated in the UNECE region. Since then, the Conventionhas entered into force with impressive speed and been ratified by most of thecountries of Europe and Central Asia. Increasingly, it is empowering membersof the public to hold governments accountable and to play a greater role inpromoting more sustainable forms of development.Open to accession by States throughout the world, the Convention hasestablished a new benchmark in environmental democracy. It is unique amongmultilateral environmental agreements in the extent to which it seeks to enableordinary people, irrespective of their citizenship, nationality or domicile, to have asay in decisions that affect their environment.However, the rights guaranteed by the Convention are only meaningful if they areexercised. Raising public awareness of the Convention is therefore crucial for itseffective implementation.This is why UNECE and UNEP have collaborated to produce this Guide. Bypresenting the rights and obligations under the Convention in plain, easy-tounderstandlanguage, we hope to bring this important treaty closer to people fromall walks of life, so that they can directly benefit from its provisions.Marek BelkaExecutive SecretaryUnited Nations EconomicCommission for EuropeAchim SteinerExecutive DirectorUnited Nations Environment ProgrammeJune 2006